Perfect – Rachel Joyce

The premise of this unusual book surrounds two young boys who believe that the Government are going to add two seconds to time and the subsequent consequences that follow. This takes the two boys on different paths which cleverly demonstrate that life is never set in stone and things can always go wrong and yet can simultaneously go right. Rachel Joyce is a clever writer in description and also in developing her characters. However, it took me a while to really engage with the story and believe in the characters as she wished me to. The story is split between the two boys and a man in the future called Jim. I chose this book initially as it had psychological links but I found this was centred completely on Jim which I felt Joyce had not developed as well as she developed the other characters.

Don’t get me wrong, the writing is beautiful and the story interesting, I just feel as though Joyce did not provide enough depth to the plot and the sequence was not all together coherent. I think it would have benefitted if Joyce had told the story in a logical format without the parallel storylines as I felt as though Jim’s Story added no value to the plot until the very end of the book.

However, there were moments where I was gasping and was shocked but these did not come until the end and the plot hinges on this ending which I have to say was a little weak. The epilogue seemed very “pink and fluffy” and there were many questions I had regarding some of the characters which unfortunately were left unanswered. I have to admit that there were parts which felt uncomfortable and almost as if Joyce was trying to hard which is understandable following the success of her first book “The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry”.

As far as a follow up book goes, Joyce has done a good job as she has produced a story which is interesting. It is just unfortunate that there are a few plot holes she has not been able to fill.

In conclusion, the book could have been developed more and the plot could have been organised in a different way. However, it was still a good book to read but maybe only the once. 

What are your thoughts? 

Thank you for reading my review. 

Next book review: "Lost - Michael Robotham"